Hillfort

Fieldnotes

Visited 6.3.13

Directions:
Taking the A432 north out of Bristol, take the turning left along Cuckoo Lane shortly after crossing over the M4. Turn left into Bury Hill Road and then right into Mill Road.
On your right you will see an access lane to a house signposted ‘private’ and shortly after that a public footpath sign also on the right. There is room to pull in next to the footpath sign.
All you then need to do is walk up the handily provided stone steps leading to the site.

Although the directions given sound fairly straightforward it took quite a while to locate the Hillfort despite being armed with an O/S map. However, the effort was well worth while.

Oddly enough I see that Xseawitch has recently posted a fieldnote about this site but my findings were much more successful.

The walk up the steps through the trees is a very pretty climb. It would have been a difficult walk without the steps as it is very steep. At the top you arrive at the garden wall (of said ‘private’ lane fame) and then you can enjoy walking pretty much through their ‘private’ garden as there is a public right of way! Access to the field/Hillfort is via a gate.

There were two horses grazing in the field who chose to ignore me.
The western side of the Hillfort showed few remaining signs of defences except for one stretch of banking which still stood to about 1m in height. It seems the builders were quite happy for the steep hillside to act as the main deterrent.
The eastern defences, where the ground is flat, provided the greater defences.
There is a single ditch / bank which still stands to an impressive height of about 2 metres (from the bottom of ditch). Much of this is now overgrown by trees and bushes.
The centre of the Hillfort seems to have lots of ‘lumps and bumps’ – I wonder what they are?

All in all this is a decent site to visit when in the area, requiring little walking other that the steep climb up the steps.